Deeply divided Republicans fail to elect U.S. House speaker on 6th ballot
U.S. House plunged into further disarray as all House business stalled with lack of Speaker
Representatives rejected Republican Kevin McCarthy's bid to lead the chamber in three consecutive votes Wednesday, for a two-day total of six rounds, as the House plunged deeper into disarray. All three ballots Wednesday returned the same end result, with conservative holdouts still refusing to support him. McCarthy fell far short of the 218 votes typically needed to win on the fourth, fifth and sixth ballots.
"Well, it's Groundhog Day," said Republican Rep. Kat Cammack, in nominating McCarthy on the sixth ballot.
"To all Americans watching right now, We hear you. And we will get through this — no matter how messy," she said.
But the right-flank conservatives, led by the Freedom Caucus and aligned with Donald Trump, appeared emboldened by the standoff — even though Trump publicly backed McCarthy.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, a firm Colorado conservative who nominated Rep. Byron Donalds — the chosen protest candidate of the day — called on Trump to tell McCarthy, "Sir, you do not have the votes and it's time to withdraw."
McCarthy, the California Republican vowed to keep fighting despite the gruelling spectacle, unlike any in modern times, that threw the new majority into tumult a day earlier. Animated private discussions broke out on the chamber floor between McCarthy supporters and detractors searching for an endgame.
Florida
Republican Byron Donalds speaks with reporters upon leaving the House
on Tuesday in Washington. His name was put forth as a nominee for
Speaker on Wednesday. (Jon Cherry/Reuters)
'It looks messy'
The House gavelled in at noon, and a McCarthy ally quickly renominated him for the job with a rousing speech designed to peel off detractors.
"Sure, it looks messy," Rep. Mike Gallagher said. But democracy is messy, he said. "The American people are in charge."
McCarthy himself entered the chamber saying, "We'll have another vote."
But the dynamic proved no different from the first day of voting on Tuesday. Democrats re-upped their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, for Speaker, and a right-flank leader from the Freedom Caucus offered another challenge to McCarthy — Donalds — in another history-making moment. Both Jeffries and Donalds are Black.
"This country needs leadership," said Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, noting the first time in history two Black Americans were nominated for the high office, and lawmakers from both parties rose to applaud. The final tally on both the fourth and fifth ballots was 212 votes for Jeffries, 201 for McCarthy and 20 for Donalds.
With Jeffries and McCarthy on the fifth ballot, Donalds was nominated again on the sixth ballot, and again McCarthy fell short of the 218 required votes.
Trump endorsement fails to move votes
The stalemate the day before was the first time in 100 years that a nominee for House Speaker could not take the gavel on the first vote.
Early Wednesday, former president Donald Trump urged Republicans to vote for McCarthy: "CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY," he wrote on his social media site, Truth Social. He added: "REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT."
Trump, who while president once referred to McCarthy as "My Kevin," still holds sway with large numbers of party members despite the spectre of legal challenges he faces — as well as his mixed record of endorsements in the recent midterms, which saw Republicans regain control of the House but fail to wrest the Senate majority from the Democrats.
The current president said House Republicans' inability to unify behind a Speaker candidate, which has prevented the chamber from beginning its legislative business, was "embarrassing" and "not a good look" for the country.
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday ahead of a trip to Kentucky for an event to highlight last year's bipartisan infrastructure law, Joe Biden said of Republicans: "I hope they get their act together."
Opposition entrenched so far
The tumultuous start to the new Congress pointed to difficulties ahead with Republicans now in control of the House, with tensions flaring. Without a Speaker, the House cannot fully form — which includes swearing in its members, naming its committee chairs, engaging in floor proceedings and launching oversight into the Biden administration.
Asked by a reporter late Tuesday if he would drop out, McCarthy said: "It's not going to happen."
Republicans Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, seen Tuesday, both oppose McCarthy's bid for the Speaker's gavel. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)It typically takes a majority of the House to become Speaker, 218 votes, although the threshold can drop if members are absent or merely vote present, a strategy McCarthy appeared to be considering. It's not clear how long Democratic members would attend en masse.
If McCarthy could win 213 votes and then persuade the remaining naysayers to simply vote present, he would be able to lower the threshold required under the rules to have the majority. But he won no more than 203 votes in three rounds of voting on Tuesday, losing as many as 20 Republicans from his slim 222-seat majority.
Not since 1923 has a Speaker's election gone to multiple ballots, and the longest and most gruelling fight for the gavel started in late 1855 and dragged out for two months, with 133 ballots, during debates over slavery in the run-up to the Civil War.
"Kevin McCarthy is not going to be a Speaker," said Virginia Republican Bob Good.
Alternate candidates unclear
In all, eventually 20 Republicans on Tuesday voted for someone other than McCarthy. Ohio Republican Jim Jordan was twice pushed forward by conservatives but has so far expressed disinterest in the role while supporting McCarthy.
The holdouts forced a third and final round of voting before Republican leaders quickly adjourned on Tuesday evening.
Ohio
Republican Jim Jordan speaks to reporters after Tuesday's session. Some
colleagues put his name forth as a Speaker candidate, but he has so far
supported McCarthy's bid. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)
Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the chair of the party's Freedom Caucus and a leader of Trump's effort to challenge the 2020 presidential election, had said earlier it was up to McCarthy to meet their demands and change the dynamic.
All 212 Democrats on Tuesday enthusiastically nominated Hakeem Jeffries, who is taking over as party leader from Nancy Pelosi, as their choice for Speaker — a typically symbolic gesture from the minority.
"We're looking for a willing partner to solve problems for the American people, not save the Republicans from their dysfunction," Jeffries said at the end of Tuesday's chaotic session.
With files from CBC News
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